Second Amendment, No Compromise, No Retreat

LUVERNE, AL –-(Ammoland.com)- I don’t know about you, but I for one am sick to my stomach of having to repeat the same facts and statistics over and over again.

For years, decades even, we have beaten the drum and recited the same litany.

Any man willing to sit calmly and listen to the facts, to history, will understand that civilian disarmament has always led to the abuse of the populace, whether by vicious criminals or an authoritarian government.

Additionally, Dr. John Lott did yeoman’s work when he researched and compiled the material for “More Guns, Less Crime” his extensive report on gun ownership and specifically concealed carry. It should be old news to this audience that Dr. Lott found the instances of violent crime against citizens dramatically dropped in areas where concealed carry was lawful and prevalent. Subsequently, in restrictive areas, such as Chicago (Cook County IL) and Washington D.C., where citizen gun ownership was the most restricted and nearly non-existent, violent crime; rape, robbery, and murder were rampant.

We have the demonstrable failures of the British and Australian gun bans. The citizens of both nations now lay exposed and vulnerable to all manner of criminal villainy, including the terrorism of home invasion, which is epidemic in Great Britain.

Those Who Should Know Better
This article is not being penned for the benefit of Sarah Brady, Herr Bloomberg, or any of the useful idiots and naked hypocrites in Hollywood. This text is for the supposed choir, those who should know better but seem not to.

During the last big offensive on civil liberty involving firearms, the 1994 (it was a) Crime Bill, we lost, not because the opposition had a more convincing argument, but because of the “reasonable” and the compromisers on our side. Self-appointed traditionalists, sportsmen, and hunters saw the gun ban as someone else’s problem. They looked at it and reasoned that they could still enjoy their favored recreation or play their game of choice.

It has been better than fifteen years, but I can still remember standing in my favorite gun shop when one of the regulars pointed to a black rifle and said, “Well, I can see banning certain kinds of guns.” Out of respect for the owner of the shop I secured my mouth and simply left feeling disgusted. Somehow I doubt I would have that level of self-control today.

More recently I had a skeet shooter attempt to explain the reason the local outdoor range specifically forbid concealed carry on the club property. During the discourse he said to me “Have you seen those concealed carry people? They scare me.” All the while he was balancing the muzzle of his shotgun on his foot. I didn’t exercise the previous restraint and congratulated him for saying the stupidest thing I had heard all week.

Should you count yourself among the reasonable hunters, traditionalists, or sportsmen today and believe you will be spared any inconvenience from the upcoming assault on civil liberty you are willfully naïve. If you think it’s alright for the government to confiscate your neighbor’s AR-15 as long as you get to keep your Remington 700 you are a selfish and vile creature and I have no respect for you.

Games are not Liberty
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Second Amendment enumerated in the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution has nothing to do with hunting, collecting, or playing shooting games. Games are not a substitute for liberty. In the vaunted European nations who still claim that their citizens can “own guns”, the only guns they can claim ownership to are those suitable for play, not for fighting. Their governments have also seen to it that playing with firearms is a rich man’s game. Licenses, fees, club memberships, storage costs, and various taxes have taken even play guns out of the hands of the common man.

For all of you weekend trap shooters, annual deer hunters and seasonal competitive marksmen, you had better think twice before throwing your concealed carry neighbor under the bus. Adopting the “civilized” European model may very well price your favorite hobby far out of reach. Do you think ammunition is expensive now? Wait until the Federal Government institutes their new form of taxation on it.

Do you appreciate the wide variety of firearms, ammunition, and accessories from which you have to choose? Kiss those days goodbye. Without the profit incentive to offer a large number of products, most manufacturers will be forced to either fold up completely or cut back on their manufacturing numbers.

The vast majority of accessory makers in the firearms industry are legitimately small business owners. The draconian taxation that is being put in motion will financially crush the vast majority of them. Those who manage to stay in business will only do so by dramatically raising their prices. Imported firearms accessories will be banned outright or taxed to extinction.

The days of the $200 riflescope or the $50 set of binoculars will be long gone. Bargain prices on imported ammunition? Nope, that will be gone as well.

Hurt Feelings?
If this short bit of text hurts your feeling or strikes a nerve, tough. It’s time to either man up and grow a pair or just admit you are not really a son of liberty but a comfortable slave seeking permission from the king to play your favorite game. And, to the moderate man, who feels that I may have erred for calling out the recreant, it is exactly that moderation and compromise that has brought us to the precarious position we are in right now.

Student of the Gun ~ Watch the Show

I am reminded of the immortal words of Dalton in the venerate tale of the Roadhouse. “I want you to be nice until it’s time not to be nice.” Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come not to be nice.

About the Author
Paul Markel has been a firearms industry writer for twenty years and is the author of the new book “Student of the Gun; A beginner once, a student for life.” Paul hosts and produces “Student of the Gun” a show dedicated to education, experience, and enjoyment of firearms. Episodes of SOTG can be viewed by simply going to www.studentofthegun.com and clicking the “play” icon.

@ Bananaman: I’m guessing your extensive study of gun owners via Duke of Hazzard has led you to this insightful conclusion. Certainly you did not come by it through actual interactions with gun owners. In my own club are doctors, lawyers, at least two scientists, a fair amount of business owners, one state representative and yes, a few “rednecks”. Too bad you have no idea what a redneck really is, you might actually like tham.

Yes, we will throughly enjoy playing with our guns. Should a government intrusion or general civic disorder occur we beg you to not look to us for protection. We aren’t interested in the weakminded and cowardly.

As for the whole drone notion, you are not aware that in 1776 just 3% of the population defeated the strongest army on the planet. As the Second Amendment intended, the miltia (which BTW includes you, read the Federalist Papers), outnumbers the standing military. No worries, many of the citizens are former military and the knowledge to defeat the technology is available.

Paul; As I see it we face a two pronged problem. The first and obvious is of course the usually left wing gun banners. I say usually because there are many on the right also anti gun. These are the folks out in the open. Those we oppose every day.

Second, We have the internal enemy. By this I mean gun owners, many in the NRA and other pro gun organizations have an “it’s OK to ban yours, I don’t have “Them” and I don’t need “Them”. And this is NOT some minority fringe. I know many gun owners that feel this way. Indeed, I knew a range owner who felt this way, a gunshop owner, and several gunshop employees. We need to make sure they understand that eventually they will be in the line of fire. (pun intended)

As I have mentioned in other posts in this and other sites, The anti-gun grabbers come in two basic forms. The political. We can write them off. they will not ever compromise. We can only vote them out of office.
Then there are the ordinary anti-gun citizen. Some we may convert. Take them to the range. Teach them the joys of shooting.
But many are anti-gun out of fear. Most of my non gun owning friends (about 60% of my friends) are so affraid of guns that they refuse to go to the range with me. They have taught me that they fear guns. They fear gun owners. Some are so affraid they believe mot gun owners are one tantrum/drunk from an Aurora or Sandy Hook. They are unarmed and fear the armed. And I’ve yet to get one to change their veiws.

As I was writing, I had FOX NEWS on. They were talking about the Biden Commission. He’s looking to every far left gun grabbing group out there. He’s not interested in our side.

The left wing MSM and Pols say we need to have a conversation on gun control. A conversation require two views being aired. The only TV network that presents both sides fairly is FNC. The others all show the bias of the newscasters. And when the DO have a pro gun rep on, it’s all too often an extreamist who comes across poorly.

To Bananaman ~ What do you think is a “Well Regulated Militia?” It is any freeman willing and able to fight for his life, liberty, and country. A militia is therefore an army of one or more. Guns are tools, the people that use them in a wrong or inappropriate way are the stupid tool. Much like the uninformed libtard.

I,m not you,r stupid bro and I,m not a redneck with a gun but I do enjoy my weapons and the right to use them no thanks to an @@@hole like u And I won’t give them up for the likes of you. I’ll die with them in my hands first

Those who stand against the ownership of any firearm by aught but their own well-paid “security” goon-thugs seem to have overlooked this one thing among many others: The very SIGHT – nay, even the reliably KNOWLEDGE of a loaded weapon within reach of the Intended is an adequate deterrent in the vast majority of criminal assault cases.

Fact: Credible hardware in the Right Hands saves lives.

Having saved both my own life and those of a few others on one memorable occasion by means of arms visible and yet not fired, I for one insist that our rights as common-law Militia remain unabridged and inviolate.

Dominance-obsessed others of the Feinstein ilk just may likely top-down disagree with the Lawful common-law POV, of course. But all such shrieking and greedy powerplay aside, the wisdom of knowing ones’ enemy’s ways as well as their means is key to success in Hard Times: the content of URLs http://tinyurl.com/Rosenthal01 and http://tinyurl.com/Rosenthal02 may well prove well worth ones’ deep and dispassionate consideration at leisure.

Balanced against Old Sun Tsu’s wise advice to the Military Professional of his day re making certain that some form of escape route is made available to the Enemy, lest the Cornered Ones redouble their energetic self-defense out of sheer desperation and thus prevail… Only to not ever shoot ones’ own abiding National Interest in the foot while so doing, is the clear-cut ethical challenge as Yours Truly sees it.

So: Moderation in all things – INCLUDING moderation! High stakes here. And that is all. 0{:-)o<

I can never figure out how the self rightous authors of these type of articles ever hope to convince the “anti-gun” citizens of this country that we do not need additional gun regulation when all I see is a bunch of name calling — “admit that you are a son of liberty” or not and threats. Spare me please! I for one do nor want to live in an armed camp. I do not want to go to the movies and have 20 or 30 of my fellow movie-goers sitting around me with concealed Glocks strapped to their hips. I for one do not think that this is safer than the alternative which is (as we all know) some nut storming in with an weapon. Which is more likely to occur — that one of the patrons with a legal concealed weapon has had a few too many at dinner and gets pissed at something or someone, or perhaps that he has a loose screw and was able to purchase his gun at a gun show with out a background check? All of the talk about “responsible gun owners” belies the fact that 99.99% of the gun owners in this country will never need to use their weapon for self protection in a public place. (Probably in your home as well but I have no issue with you having a weapon in your home if that is what you choose). No one seems willing to accept the statistics that there are 12,000 gun deaths annually in the U.S. and far fewer in almost every other nation on earth. And you wonder why people like me do not react well to the type of postings so common on these sites. See e.g. Harold’s post above “I’ll die with them in my hands first.” I ask Harold and all of the other Harolds on this post will you truely die before you give up your gun to a law that “well regulates” some form of gun ownership, magazine capacity limitation, background check, etc? I think most if not all will not. Many of you seem to want to live in a society with no regulation (or very limited regulation) but many (I think most)of “us” do not, even many gun owners. Then there are those (Richard H. as an example)who suggest that apparently any gun owner or “freeman” (whatever that means to you)somehow constitutes a “Well Regulated Militia.” Please explain how you define the term “regulated” or “well regulated?” I for one do not want or need the likes of Richard H. or Harold or Al Luverne to protect me or my family in a movie theater, school, church, or public place. Thank you but I choose to live my life in a state of blissful ignorance and suspect that I will do just fine as I have for in excess of the past 50 years. Does this make me some sort of (pick your verb) fool, traitor to the 2nd Amendment, etc? I suspect that you will see some additional regulation. How much I can’t don’t know. It will be interesting, however, to see how all you big talkers react at that time.

Yes. We must fight to the death to protect our God given right to defend ourselves & others from criminals…be they robbers, gang members or government tyrrants.
Watch this video & pass it around. It’s one of the best & most sendible testimonies Ive ever heard.

Dave S.: I am complete social liberal (pro-abortion, pro same-sex marriage, pro socialized medicine, etc.) who absolutely, positively understands why the Founders put the 2nd in there: because they had direct experience with a tyrant, they were well read in history, and they understood that the People (meaning the common man) ultimately had only one defense from those who inevitably crave power, achieve it, and will then do anything to retain it. I believe law abiding citizens are granted the Constitutional right to own, purchase, and use ANY firearms the Police (who are also citizens) are allowed to use. No, we don’t need the right to possess the military weapons used by our soldiers (full autos, grenades, artillery, mines, rockets, tanks, etc.), but soldiers are not ordinary free citizens: they are in the Service! But if the Police (who often seem to think they have military powers, especially if they are allowed to dress in black) can own and use them, then any law-abiding citizen can own/use them. If we lose that, we lose a key feature of what makes us Americans, and I am sick of hearing that we should follow models in Europe, Australia, Canada. We are Americans, and gun rights are among those that have sustained us as Americans, a free people. You say “All of the talk about “responsible gun owners” belies the fact that 99.99% of the gun owners in this country will never need to use their weapon for self protection in a public place.” That is likely true, but the point that needs to be made is that 99.9% of the gun owners in this country never commit an illegal act with their guns, so why is it logical or responsible to tread on the rights of these 80-100 million citizens because a few, extremely rare, mental/social defectives are allowed to walk among us in our free society. How many of your “12,000 gun deaths” are simple suicides? Most, I believe, and the remainder of the rest are gang members killing gang members and innocents, a few depraved murders, plus there are a handful which are genuine acts of self defense.
Well, I digress. I agree with you that a lot of the rhetoric from the gun holders is out of line and fosters the “us against them” crap. Lots of these folks hate me because I don’t believe in God, for Christ’s sake! But all gun owners are NOT right wing fanatics. We desperately need to pull our people together, ditch our corrupt political parties, and embrace the fact that we are ALL Americans and we are ALL in this together. Only then can we achieve the dream of the free country the Founders had in mind when they created it. They didn’t envision it corrupted by consumerism and run by self-serving billionaires and the machinations of international corporations. These evil powers may yet win the battle (they have certainly succeeded in dividing us, no?), costing us most of our rights, freedoms, and liberties (Homeland Security is the ultimate oxymoron, created by a President who fanned fear instead of saying “we are the home of the brave and we aren’t going to give up our freedoms because of a handful of clever terrorists”), but as long as Americans still have their guns, there is always an option to overthrow a government that believes our freedom and liberty should be sacrificed for total security. Total security is impossible; life offers no guarantees, so it is probably best that you continue to live your life in “ignorant bliss.” All I ask is that you allow me and your fellow Americans, who choose to do so, to retain the freedoms and liberties our country’s Founders (and many patriots thereafter) fought and died for so we could retain them.

Biden was speaking today about the need for an executive order to solve the “gun violence ” problem ( of course it is not he people who commit the violence ) and said that thousands of people would be saved by such non legislative rule …Albert Camus said “The welfare of the People has always been the alibi of tyrants ..”

@Dave; Most folks believe as you do, and that is to be expected, thankfully for you and yours there will be folks like many of the commenter’s on here that will take a stand so that the sheeple can go on living in blissful ignorance. As one of the sheepdogs, I love your kind and will do all I can to keep you safe, I know my capacity for violence scares the sheeple and that you don’t like the sheepdog in your flock, but when the wolf comes, i know who you will pick to hide behind and i will never expect you to thank me. God bless you and yours.